Covid subvariants ticking up in CA…

Licensed vocational nurse Angela Tapia prepares a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 booster vaccine at the Salazar home in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health runs a program that provides COVID vaccines to people who are homebound. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)Amid concerns about a potential winter COVID-19 wave, cases linked to newer coronavirus subvariants are starting to creep up in California as officials in both Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area warn that a lengthy decline in new infections appears to be stalling.Whether this trend in coronavirus cases can be blamed on the rise of the newer strains is unclear — especially since the Omicron subvariant BA.5 remains the dominant version nationwide, as has been the case for months.But officials have long warned that any new subvariant could imperil the progress against COVID-19, either by being inherently more infectious or better able to evade protection from vaccinations or previous infections.The latest generation of alphanumerically designated Omicron subvariants may have such an advantage, even over the hyper-infectious BA.5.BA.5 “appears to be gradually accounting for fewer sequenced specimens, indicating that other variants could become more dominant in the future,” according to Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.The erosion of BA.5’s dominance has been slow but steady. Such changes “could indicate the beginning of a growth advantage by some of the other strains,” Ferrer said Thursday during a weekly briefing.According to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.5 accounts for an estimated 62% of all new coronavirus cases nationwide. However, that share has fallen markedly from mid-August, when it was thought to be behind more than 86% of cases.In the southwestern U.S., which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific territories, BA.5 remains more common, accounting for an estimated 72% of all new cases during the latest analysis period.A few other Omicron subvariants also have risen in prominence. BQ.1.1, which some officials have pointed to as a potentially problematic strain, went from an estimated 0.2% of cases nationwide in mid-September to 7.2% this month. During that same time, BQ.1 has swelled its estimated share from 0.5% to 9.4%, while BF.7 — also known as BA.5.2.1.7 — has increased from 1.9% to 6.7%.Story continuesIn L.A. County, data from the week ending Oct. 1 also point to a decline in BA.5’s dominance and new subvariants making up an increasing share of cases.But while BQ.1 and BQ. …